Echo-Maker EVENT 7/8 October 2017

Projected through layers of gauze within a three-dimensional ‘magic lantern’, Echo-Maker explores in mesmerising and meditative fashion a unique and special story of birds and people – and of resilience and hope amidst turbulent times. A film about loss and return in the wetlands of the Somerset Levels and Moors; returning this autumn in the archetypal landscape that inspired it…

Reformatted for the intimate surroundings of the Romano-British dining room at the Avalon Marshes Centre, the installation takes place amidst marshland that our ancestors – inhabitants of the nearby prehistoric lake villages of Glastonbury and Meare – shared not only with crane and bittern, but also the Great Northern Diver, Dalmatian Pelican and White-tailed Eagle.

Combining animation, live-action footage and sound recordings gathered during the course of the Cranes and Communities project in 2016, the film evokes a lost world which might, through the potent combination of science and community action, return once more – as the Great Crane Project has already so powerfully demonstrated. Our actions, no matter how small, can and do change the world for the better…

Damon’s role is to act as the hub of the project - making sure everyone involved knows what is going on and that it is all running smoothly. He is also responsible for project community awareness work in Somerset, construction of the release enclosure, and running the post release monitoring work in Somerset. Damon works alongside the RSPB reserve teams in Somerset.